Historically, firearm butt stocks have been made in a non-adjustable fixed configuration. Butt stock height can be important because an accurate marksman typically rests his face against the comb or top of the stock, which is also known as the cheek rest. In most instances where the standard firearm sights are fixedly attached to the firearm barrel, non-adjusting stocks do not present a serious problem. However, with the advent and prevalence of telescopic optical sights which ride above the standard firearm sights and standard government issue military firearms taking on broader missions from urban warfare to sniper attacks, greater versatility in the height of the cheek rest is necessary.
By way of illustration, adjusting the cheek rest height typically has been considered necessary only for precision-sniper weapons. The extensive use of telescopic sights on these platforms makes eye alignment with these sighting devices of paramount importance. Looseness between the operator's head and the stock can cause misalignment between the eye and the stock and the scope. Issues such as maintaining proper eye relief and parallax are also effected. These scopes are often mounted too high above the stock for a user's cheek to gain a steadying purchase on the cheek rest. These effects all combine to potentially reduce firing accuracy.
For target applications and most military sniper applications, a high level of precision in position of a cheek rest is highly desirable. Thus, most firearm butt stocks having an adjustable cheek piece have relatively complex mechanisms requiring numerous components. The net effect is this often makes the stocks heavier, more difficult to assemble and more expensive to produce. Furthermore, these mechanisms are more prone to interference by dirt and grit encountered in military field applications. This is especially true with regard to government standard issue firearms which, as discussed above, are adaptable to numerous applications from use as sniper weapons to automatic weapons in relatively close combat.
The adjustable cheek piece for a firearm butt stock disclosed and claimed herein is intended to provide a simple, reliable and inexpensive solution to one or more of the problems discussed above.